Lunar Knights

[shadowprophet]

The next Boktai game For Nintendo DS, The original Boktai was released for the Game Boy Advance three years ago, A Brain Child of Konami's own Hideo Kojima, who placed his bid for innovation Via A GBA title that harnessed the power of the sun while you played. A bold move and a great game, But herein lies the complicated mesh of problems that followed its release, The game relied heavily on its in cart solar sensor, Which had its part to play in why this solidly designed otherwise great game was primarily overlooked by many gamers. While the concept was solid the execution failed.
Sun light and gba screens just don't work well as a team, As the series continued , more and more changes were made to make the game a bit more "darkness-friendly", though each version was still stuck with the stigma of the first attempt. That is, until now.


Lunar knights instantly has the unique Boktai feel to it. While The presentation remains the same, giving depth to the levels while still feeling just like a top-view dungeon crawler.

While the original Boktai focused on more of a stealth style (Solar Boy was always sneaking around to avoid using what little sun power he had), Lunar Knights is a bit more straightforward, at least in this current demo. With two main characters to juggle and a ton of different super attacks, Lunar Knights focuses on battles primarily, though I hope to see some awesome puzzle implementation into the later builds of the game as well. Right now it's a bit shallow for my own liking, and as an avid Boktai fan I'm sure many will share my opinion on that. Boktai was as much about finesse as it was power, and that "Metal Gear" feeling the series seemed to just barely touch on is missed in the demo.

Even still, Lunar Knights is defiantly one of my most anticipated 3rd party games of the year for DS. The battle is already amazingly fun, and the balance between using Lucian and Aaron in tandem is already showing a ton of promise. With Lucian favoring the darkness and Aaron capitalizing during the day, players will constantly be swapping the characters in and out not only based on the individual's attacks, but also due to the ever-changing weather. I do have to say, however, that I miss dragging the vampire coffin out of the castle and into the daylight. Instead, the defeated foe is actually launched into space, which is a bit… odd.

As an added kick to the package, almost to say "Look, it is made for DS, not just GBA", Lunar Knights also includes a 3D shooter level very reminiscent of the original Star Fox series for Super NES. It's a bit odd to go from vampire slaying and then transition into a spaceship shooter, and I personally would rather just have some good 'ole vamp slaying. On the ground, the DS capabilities are used for the character's special attacks, which use a variety of familiars to summon tornados and fire or power-up Lucian and Aaron directly. This is a much better example of how to mix up action for the DS version, and the balance between the characters would be enough variety in itself.

Despite a few odd choices though, Lunar Knights is definitely the next Boktai game in spirit, and it's a far better move than convincing people to play their newly-purchased DS Lite (which doubles as a flashlight) out in direct sunlight. The style has remained, the gameplay has been expanded on, and the sun sensor is nowhere to be found. Konami seems to be launching a rebirth for the Boktai franchise, and aside from the un-needed 3D shooter level which seems a bit too tacked on, I'd say they're bringing it back in style. Stay tuned to RPG-NEWS for more Information as it unfolds!!

Leave Feedback Via Comments Below

[JKKDARK]

very cool, man